JAKARTA. The light rail transit (LRT) connecting from Cawang to Cibubur in East Jakarta will enter operation in March 2019, according to Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, later than a target proclaimed just a few months ago.

“The technical progress has reached 12 percent, and we hope the infrastructure for the LRT will be finished in the middle of next year. We need eight more months to finish installing rolling stock and the system,” Budi said in a statement on Monday, as quoted by news agency Antara.

Budi explained that the LRT infrastructure used precast technology. “We use a new technology called precast, as high as 30 meters. Our LRT is more advanced than that in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan,” he added.

He said that besides serving railway transportation, the LRT infrastructure also accommodated phone lines and fiber-optic communication.

The central government and state-owned contractor Adhi Karya plan to eventually connect Bogor, Depok and Bekasi with Jakarta through the LRT system.

The minister said the first phase was for a connection from Cibubur to Cawang, which would be followed by an extension to Bogor, because 30 percent of PT Keretaapi Commuter Jabodetabek’s 800,000 passengers are from Bogor.

In September last year, the government had targeted that the Cawang-Cibubur route would start operating by the end of 2018.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie